THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


pitmiltxrtx 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 


LEGISL  ATURE 


OF  THE 


STATE    OF    NEW  YORK 


IN  MEMORY  OF 


HON.  HAMILTON    FISH, 


HELD  AT  THE 


CAPITOL,  THURSDAY   EVENING,  APRIL  8,   1894. 


ALBANY : 
JAMES   B.    LYON,    PRINTER. 

1894. 


JOINT  COMMITTEE  OF  THE  LEGISLATURE. 


SENATE   COMMITTEE. 

CHARLES   T.  SAXTON,  JOHN    LEWIS   CHILDS, 

HARVEY    J.   DONALDSON,  AMASA    J.    PARKER, 

JOHN    F.  AHEARN. 


ASSEMBLY   COMMITTEE. 

DANFORTH    E.  AINSWORTH,      S.  FREDERICK   NIXON, 
EDWARD    H.   THOMPSON,  LAMBERT    B.    KERN, 

OTIS    H.   CUTLER,  ALBERT    A.   WRAY, 

WILLIAM    SULZER,  ROBERT    P,    BUSH, 

EDWARD   B.   LA    FETRA. 


55QG46 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 


LEGISLATURE  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK 


IN  RELATION  TO  THE  DEATH  OF 


HON.    HAMILTON    FISH. 


PROCEEDI  NGS. 


IN  SENATE, 
ALBANY,  February  26,  1894 


.1 


Mr.    SAXTON    offered    a    resolution   in   the 
following    words  : 

WHEREAS,  The  Legislature  has  heard  with  deep 
regret  of  the  death,  on  September  7th  last,  of  the 
Honorable  HAMILTON  FISH,  who  had  filled  with  great 
distinction  the  offices  of  Governor  of  this  State, 
Senator  in  Congress,  and  Secretary  of  State  in  the 
National  Government. 

Resolved  (if  the  Assembly  concur),  That  a  joint 
committee  of  the  Legislature,  consisting  of  five  Senators 
and  nine  Members  of  Assembly,  be  appointed  by  the 
presiding  officers  of  the  respective  Houses  to  arrange 
a  suitable  memorial  of  the  deceased  statesman  and 
report  what  further  action  shall  be  taken  with 
reference  thereto,  and  further 

Resolved  (if  the  Assembly  concur),  That  a  cordial 
invitation  be  and  hereby  is  extended  to  the  Honorable 
George  F.  Edmunds,  of  Vermont,  to  deliver  an 
oration  upon  the  life  and  public  services  of  the 
deceased  at  a  time  and  place  to  be  provided  by 
said  joint  committee. 


The  PRESIDENT  put  the  question  on  the 
adoption  of  said  resolution  and  it  was  unani- 
mously adopted  by  a  rising  vote,  and  ordered 
sent  to  the  Assembly  for  their  concurrence. 

The  Assembly  subsequently  returned  the 
concurrent  resolution  relative  to  the  death 
of  Hon  HAMILTON  FISH  with  a  message  that 
they  have  concurred  in  the  passage  of  the 
same. 

The  PRESIDENT  appointed  as  the  committee 
on  the  part  of  the  Senate  to  act  with  the 
Assembly  to  arrange  memorial  exercises  in 
honor  of  the  late  HAMILTON  FISH,  Messrs. 
Saxton,  Childs,  Donaldson,  Parker  and 
Ahearn. 

Mr.  SPEAKER  appointed  as  the  committee 
on  the  part  of  the  Assembly,  Messrs.  Ains- 
worth,  Nixon;  Thompson,  Kern,  Cutler,  Wray, 
Sulzer,  Bush  and  La  Fetra. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  above  joint  com- 
mittee it  was  decided  to  hold  a  memorial 
service  in  the  Assembly  chamber  at  such 
time  as  would  suit  the  convenience  of 
Hon  George  F  Edmunds,  of  Vermont,  who 


10 


.  gamiliim  fflsfc. 


was    invited    by    the    committee    to    deliver 
the  memorial  address. 

The  Hon.  George  F.  Edmunds  accepted 
the  invitation  and  named  Thursday  evening, 
April  5th,  as  the  date  for  the  memorial 

service. 

11 


MEMORIAL     SERVICE. 


ASSEMBLY  CHAMBER, 
ALBANY,  April  5,  1894. 

The  Legislature  having  met  in  joint  session 
in  the  Assembly  chamber,  in  pursuance  of  the 
arrangements  made  by  the  joint  memorial 
committee,  Roswell  P.  Flower,  Governor,  and 
State  officers  being  present,  the  meeting  was 
called  to  order  by  Hon.  Charles  T.  Saxton, 
chairman  of  the  joint  committee. 

The  hymn,  "  Lead  Kindly  Light/'  was 
sung  by  the  choir  of  Saint  Peter's  church 
of  Albany. 

Prayer  was  offered  by  Rt  Rev.  William 
Croswell  Doane,  Bishop  of  Albany,  as  follows : 

Almighty  and  everlasting  God,  we  yield  unto  thee 
most  high  praise  and  hearty  thanks  for  the  wonderful 
grace  and  virtue  declared  in  all  thy  saints,  who  have 
been  the  choice  vessels  of  thy  grace  and  the  lights  of 
the  world  in  their  several  generations;  most  humbly 
beseeching  thee  to  give  us  grace  so  to  follow  the 
example  of  their  steadfastness  in  thy  faith,  and  obedience 
to  thy  holy  commandments,  that  at  the  day  of  the 

13 


general  Resurrection,  we,  with  all  those  who  are  of 
the  mystical  body  of  thy  Son,  may  be  set  on  His 
right  hand,  and  hear  that  His  most  joyful  voice : 
Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom 
prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
Grant  this,  O  Father,  for  JPSUS  Christ's  sake,  our  only 
Mediator  and  Advocate.  Amen. 

The  anthem,  "  Eia  Mater,"  was  rendered 
by  the  choir. 

Hon.  Charles  T.  Saxton,  in  introducing 
Hon.  George  F.  Edmunds,  of  Vermont, 
spoke  as  follows : 

Hamilton  Fish  was  a  notable  figure  both 
in  our  State  and  in  our  National  politics. 
He  rendered  invaluable  services  to  his 
country  and  won  enduring  fame  as  a  broad- 
minded,  sagacious  and  patriotic  statesman. 
We  point  with  pride  to  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  citizen  of  our  State,  and  have  taken 
this  method  of  testifying  to  our  respect  for 
his  memory.  Let  us  congratulate  ourselves 
that  we  have  with  us  this  evening  a  dis- 
tinguished gentleman  whose  long  and  honor- 
able public  career  is  known  to  every  one 
present,  and  who  was  for  many  years  the 
personal  and  political  friend  of  our  deceased 


gon.  pamiltott  fftsfc. 


fellow  citizen.  1  refer  to  the  Honorable 
George  F.  Edmunds,  of  Vermont,  one  of  the 
best  known  of  living  Americans,  who  is  here 
by  invitation  of  the  Legislature.  I  esteem 
it  an  honor  to  introduce  him  to  this  audience 
and  I  am  sure  we  all  feel  it  a  great 
privilege  to  have  the  opportunity  of  listen- 
ing to  him  on  this  interesting  occasion. 

Hon.  George  F.  Edmunds  then  delivered 
the  following  memorial  address: 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OK  THE 
LEGISLATURE. — To  officially  commemorate  the 

» 

lives  and  public  services  of  those  citizens 
of  the  State  who  have  been  deservedly 
conspicuous  in  promoting  the  progress  and 
welfare  of  its  people  is  a  pleasant  and 
useful  duty ;  and  the  duty  and  pleasure 
are  still  larger  when  the  citizen  who  is 
thus  brought  vividly  into  remembrance 
has  impressed  his  intelligent  and  patriotic 
thoughts  upon  the  principles,  policies,  and 
movements  of  a  nation, —  a  nation  in 
which  and  of  which  the  people  of  the 
State  of  New  York  have  been  from  the 
Colonial  and  Revolutionary  days,  of  more 


than  a  century  ago  to  the  present  time, 
a  most  important  and  valuable  component 
part,  both  in  their  character  as  a  State 
sovereign  in  all  the  constitutional  respects 
so  wisely  and  carefully  allotted  by  the 
founders  of  the  Republic,  and  as  citizens 
of  a  united  and  indivisible  community 
with  common  interests,  with  common  affec- 
tions, with  common  hopes,  and  a  common 
destiny,  embracing  all  the  dwellers  in  a 
land  of  States  and  people  extending  from 
the  stormy  eastern  coasts  of  the  continent 
where  landed  Pilgrims  and  Puritans  upon 
New  England  shores  —  the  Dutch  on  Man- 
hattan, the  Swedes  in  Delaware,  Royalists 
along  the  Chesapeake,  and  Huguenots 
upon  the  southern  coasts  —  to  the  smiling 
shores  of  the  tranquil  sea  where  the  pious 
missionaries  of  the  Spanish  Regime  were 
at  the  same  time  extending  their  conquests 
of  religion,  civilization,  and  peace  among 
the  untutored  natives  of  the  land. 

Such  a  citizen  was  Hamilton  Fish. 

Deeply  and  gratefully  sensible  of  the 
great  honor  you  have  done  me  in  con- 


16 


Hon.  Hamilton  Fistx. 


nection  with  this  occasion,  and  sincerely 
diffident  of  ray  ability  to  be  worthy  of 
it,  I  shall,  in  the  short  time  that  can  be 
properly  occupied  with  the  subject  this 
evening,  endeavor  to  set  forth  something 
of  the  life  and  character  of  the  man 
whose  memory  we  have  assembled  to  com- 
memorate, in  connection  with  important 
events  which  he  to  a  large  and  often 
commanding  degree  influenced  and  shaped 
to  lasting  and  useful  ends. 

Mr.  Fish  was  born  in  the  city  of  New 
York  on  the  third  day  of  August,  1808. 
His  parents  were  descendants — on  one  side 
English  and  on  the  other  Dutch  —  of  the 
most  respectable  and  influential  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Southeastern  New  York. 
His  father,  Colonel  Nicholas  Fish,  was,  dur- 
ing the  Revolution,  a  trusted  and  gallant 
lieutenant  of  Washington  and  the  intimate 
friend  and  companion  of  Hamilton,  for 
whom  Mr.  Fish  was  named.  His  mother 
was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Petrus  Stuy= 
vesant,  the  last  Governor  of  New  York 
under  the  colonial  rule  of  the  Dutch, —  an 


17 


Ju  g&cmoriaw. 


example  of  that  social  union  and  unity 
of  different  nationalities  that  happily  fol- 
lowed the  termination  of  the  contests  for 
supremacy  at  the  great  maritime  gateway 
of  the  country,  the  prosperity  and  happi- 
ness of  which  very  largely  depended  upon 
the  peaceful  unity  of  effort  both  in  social 
and  public  affairs  among  all  its  people. 

Mr.  Fish  received  his  instruction  prepara- 
tory for  college  at  the  famous  school  of 
Monsieur  Bancel,  an  exiled  French  Legiti- 
mist, and  thus  acquired  in  his  boyhood 
that  well-grounded  and  lasting  knowledge 
of  the  French  language  that  became  so 
useful  to  him  in  his  administration  of  the 
Department  of  State  fifty  years  later. 
After  due  preparation  he  entered  Columbia 
College,  and  was  graduated  in  1827  with 
the  highest  honors.  He  immediately  com- 
menced the  study  of  Jaw  in  the  office  of 
Peter  A.  Jay,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Chief 
Justice,  and  wras  called  to  the  bar  of 
New  York  three  years  later.  He  formed 
a  law  partnership  with  William  Beach 

Lawrence,    the     learned     editor    and    corn- 
is 


|tou. 


mentator  of  Wheaton's  International  Law, 
who  had  been  then  recently  Secretary  of 
Legation  at  London  while  Albert  Gallatin 
was  minister.  Mr.  Fish  devoted  himself 
chiefly  to  chancery  and  real-estate  practice, 
besides  (as  we  must  conclude  from  his 
display  of  vast  and  accurate  knowledge 
of  public  law  when  he  first  came  to  the 
Secretaryship  of  State)  giving  much  time 
to  the  study  of  international  law  which 
his  association  with  Mr.  Lawrence  would 
naturally  lead  him  to  do. 

At  that  time  the  country  was  divided 
into  two  political  parties,  the  Whigs  and 
the  Democrats,  and  upon  issues  involving 
the  protection  and  development  of  home 
industries  and  the  creation  and  extension 
of  internal  improvements  to  the  end  of 
making  the  commercial  intercourse  and  the 
political  and  social  solidarity  of  the 
country  more  easy  and  complete.  The 
railway  was  in  its  earliest  infancy,  and 
the  telegraph  was  unknown ;  and  the  use 
of  steam  as  a  means  of  water  transporta- 
tion had  small  development. 


19 


|n 


Mr.  Fish  belonged  to  the  Whig  party, 
and  gave  whatever  of  assistance  he  could 
to  the  promotion  of  the  policies  that 
appertained  to  it.  During  the  period  of 

those    earliest  vears    at  the    bar  the    execu- 

ti 

tion  of  the  customs  laws  had  brought 
on  a  crisis  between  the  powers  of  the 
National  Government  and  those  of  the 
States,  manifested  in  the  effort  of  South 
Carolina  to  nullify  the  laws  of  Congress. 
These  events  led  Mr.  Fish  to  the  study 
of  the  structure  of  the  government  and 
the  relation  of  its  various  parts  and  func- 
tions as  partitioned  and  adjusted  between 
the  United  States  and  the  several  States, 
in  all  their  aspects,  as  well  foreign  as 
internal.  Thus  in  the  earliest  years  of 
his  professional  career  he  laid  the  founda- 
tion for  that  steady  growth  in  the  know! 
edge  of  the  principles  and  application  of 
constitutional  and  public  law  which  made 
him  when  he  came  to  the  great  responsibili- 
ties of  important  public  station  the  master 
of  the  numerous  questions  --  often  unique 
and  difficult  —  which  so  continually  arose. 


ao 


gtou.  Hamilton  fislt. 


In  1834,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  he 
was  the  Whig  candidate  for  the  Assembly 
from  a  district  of  his  native  city,  but 
was  beaten. 

On  the  15th  of  December,  1836,  Mr.  Fish 
was  married  to  Miss  Julia  Kean,  daughter 
of  Mr.  Peter  Kean,  of  Ursino,  near  Eliza- 
bethtown,  N.  J.,  whose  father,  John  Kean, 
as  a  member  from  South  Carolina  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  was  one  of  the  com- 
mittee which  reported  the  famous  ordinance 
of  1787,  prohibiting  slavery  in  the  North- 
west Territory. 

During  the  years  that  followed  he  took 
his  full  part  in  the  labors  of  a  good 
citizen  in  the  promotion  of  the  interests  of 
Columbia  College  and  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  of  wliich  he  was  a 
member,  and  in  the  establishment  and 
progress  of  public  libraries  and  other 
public  institutions  and  charities  in  the 
then  and  still  greatest  city  of  the  country. 

The  wave  of  great  industrial  and  finan- 
cial prosperity  in  the  country  which 
had  culminated  under  President  Jackson's 

21 


H  f&emoviiim. 


administration,  and  resulted  in  a  distri- 
bution of  public  moneys  among  the  States, 
fell  into  the  trough  of  general  disaster 
and  bankruptcy  in  1837-38,  during  the 
administration  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  and 
changed  the  currents  of  political  action, 
so  that  at  the  age  of  thirty-four,  in  1842, 
he  was  elected  to  Congress  from  a  district 
in  the  citv  of  New  York.  At  the  next 

•/ 

election  he  was  beaten  on  party  lines. 
In  1846  he  was  nominated  for  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  New  York  by  the  Whig 
State  Convention,  but  was  defeated,  owing 
to  the  defection  of  the  anti-renters  though 
his  associate  on  the  ticket,  —  Governor 
Young  was  elected.  But  a  year  later,  in 
1847,  Lieutenant-Go vernor  Gardiner  having 
resigned,  Mr.  Fish  was  elected  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  at  the  age  of  thirty-nine,  by  a 
majority  of  about  thirty  thousand.  In 
1848  he  was  selected  by  the  Whigs  as 
candidate  for  Governor,  and  ran  against 
such  worthy  competitors  as  John  A..  Dix, 
the  Free-Soil  candidate,  and  Reuben  H. 
Walworth,  Democrat.  He  was  elected,  and 


Hon.  gamiltjra  IfisTx. 


at  the  age  of  forty-one  began  his  duties 
in  that  very  important  and  responsible 
position  on  the  first  of  January,  1849. 
At  that  time,  following  the  election  of 
Taylor  and  Fillmore,  the  stress  of  the 
slavery  question,  particularly  in  respect 
of  the  extension  of  slavery  into  territory 
where  it  did  not  previously  exist,  had 
become  great,  and  the  increasing  aggres- 
siveness of  the  slave-holding  States  and 
their  people  in  respect  of  extending  the 
geographical  area  and  the  political  power 
belonging  to  that  institution  had  become 
so  open  and  manifest  that  the  people  of 
the  free  States  became  aroused  to  a  larger 
comprehension  of  the  incompatibility - 
indeed  impossibility — of  carrying  on  a 
peaceful  and  homogeneous  National  Gov- 
ernment under  circumstances  of  social  and 
political  institutions  so  utterly  adverse  and 
irreconcilable.  It  gradually  came  to  be 
understood  by  the  intelligent  people  of 
the  country  that  these  differences  of  situa- 
tion and  of  tendency  were  inherent  in  the 
two  svsterns,  and  that  what  Mr.  Seward 


later  described  and  characterized  as  an  irre- 
pressible conflict  could  never  be  ended,  or 
indeed  even  stayed,  if  the  further  expansion 
of  slavery  into  free  territory  should  take 
place.  Governor  Fish  was  deeply  sensible 
of  the  perils  of  the  situation,  as  he  was, 
also,  strongly  impressed  with  the  constitu- 
tional rights  and  duties,  of  whatever  kind 
in  respect  of  the  institution  of  slavery,  that 
the  original  compact  had  set  forth  in  the 
constitution  of  the  common  country.  To 
illustrate  this  I  will  read  some  extracts 
from  his  messages  to  the  Legislature  while 
Governor. 

He  says,  "The  compromises  of  the  Con- 
stitution, as  they  are  familiarly  termed, 
do  not  of  right  extend  to  territory  beyond 
the  limit  of  the  original  thirteen  States. 
The  privileges  which  they  concede  may  be 
granted,  but  can  not  be  claimed  for  any 
newly-acquired  territory." 

Again,  "  If  there  be  any  one  subject  upon 
which  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York 
approach  near  to  unanimity  of  sentiment, 
it  is  in  their  fixed  determination  to  resist 


24 


the  extension  of  slavery  over  territory  now 
free.  With  them  it  involves  a  great  moral 
principle,  and  overrides  all  questions  of  tem- 
porary political  expediency.  None  venture 
to  dissent,  and  in  the  mere  difference  of 
degree  in  which  the  sentiment  receives 
utterance  it  has  proved  powerful  even  to 
the  breaking  down  of  the  strong  barrier  of 
party  organization." 

And  again,  "  They  are  now  asked  to 
become  parties  to  the  extension  of  slavery 
over  territory  already  free.  Their  answer 
may  be  read  in  their  past  history.  T  believe 
that  it  is  almost,  if  not  entirely,  the  unani- 
mous decision  of  the  people  of  this  State 
that  under  no  circumstances  will  their  assent 
be  given  to  any  action  whereby  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery  shall  be  introduced  into  the 
territory  of  the  United  States  from  which 
it  is  now  excluded. 

"  It  is  no  new  declaration  in  behalf  of 
the  State  of  New  York  that  she  regards 
slavery  as  a  moral,  social,  and  political  evil. 
*  *  *  Regarding  it  as  a  domestic  relation, 
founded  and  limited  to  the  original  terri- 


torial lines  of  the  State, —  dependent  for 
its  continuance  and  its  regulation  upon 
the  legislation  of  the  several  States, —  New 
York  exercised  her  exclusive  power  over 
the  institution  within  her  own  borders,  but 
has  carefully  avoided  interfering  with  the 
right  of  any  other  States  to  regulate  their 
policy  in  their  own  way, —  not  because  her 
repugnance  to  human  bondage  or  her  attach- 
ment to  the  principles  of  universal  freedom 
were  confined  to  the  limits  of  her  own 
jurisdiction,  but  because  of  her  attachment 
to  the  union  of  the  States,  and  because 
of  her  strong  regard  for  the  compact  into 
which  she  had  entered  with  those  States." 

He  declares  that  "by  the  treaty  with 
Mexico  the  Territories  of  New  Mexico  and 
California  came  to  us  free;  and  the  laws 
of  Mexico  abolishing  slavery,  which  were 
in  force  at  the  time  of  the  cession,  con- 
tinue to  be  operative  and  are  not  affected 
by  any  transfer  of  sovereignty  over  the 
Territory." 

He  refers  to  the  resolutions  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State  in  the  same  direction, 


26 


gou.  Hamilton 


and  says,  "New  York  loves  the  union  of 
the  States.  She  will  not  contemplate  the 
possibility  of  its  dissolution  ;  and  sees  no 
reason  to  calculate  the  enormity  of  such 
a  calamity.  She  also  loves  the  cause  of 
human  freedom,  and  sees  no  reason  to 
abstain  from  an  avowal  of  her  attachment 
While,  therefore,  she  holds  fast  to  the  one, 
she  will  not  forsake  the  other." 

These  were  great  and  noble  expressions, 
and,  comins;  from  the  chief  magistrate  of 

/  ^j  \j 

the  most  powerful  and  populous  State  of 
the  Union,  could  not  have  failed  to  exert 
immense  influence  in  favor  of  constitutional 
liberty.  They  illuminate  and  illustrate  the 
character  of  the  man  as  a  constitutional 
lawyer,  as  a  patriotic  statesman,  and  as  a 
lover  of  justice  and  humanity  for  their  own 
sakes. 

His  term  as  Governor  expired  on  the  1st 
of  January,  1851,  and  without  solicitation 
or  effort  on  his  part  he  was  nominated  by 
the  Whig  members  of  the  New  York  Leg- 
islature for  the  office  of  Senator  for  the 
term  commencing  on  the  4th  of  March  of 


27 


In 


that  year.  The  state  of  parties  at  that 
time  was  peculiar.  The  great  struggle  in 
respect  of  the  extension  of  slavery  had 
reached  the  sta°;e  where  President  Fillmore 

o 

had  signed  the  so-called  compromise 
measures  of  1850;  and  the  important  con- 
sideration remained  as  to  how  far  the  judg- 
ment of  the  people  and  the  action  of  Senators 
and  Members  in  Congress  would  support 
that  measure  to  the  end  of  its  being,  as 
its  friends  fondly  but  illusively  hoped  it 
would  be,  a  final  settlement  of  the  trouble. 

President  Fillmore  had,  on  the  occasion 
of  his  signing  the  measure  in  the  September 
preceding,  in  reply  to  a  letter  of  congratula- 
tion from  Mr.  Fish  on  the  termination  of 
the  struggle,  written  to  him  explaining  his 
views  and  motives  in  respect  of  signing  the 
bill,  and  stating  his  belief  that  it  would 
restore  harmony  and  peace  to  the  country. 

Upon  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Fish  for 
Senator  it  was  found,  when  the  matter  came 
to  a  vote  in  the  two  Houses  of  the  Leg- 
islature, that  while  he  had  a  large  majority 
in  the  Assembly,  he  lacked  one  of  such 


28 


gem.  Hamilton 


majority  in  the  Senate,  which  was  so  closely 
divided  between  parties  that  the  defection 
of  a  single  Whig  left  the  Senate  a  tie. 
This  defection  occurred,  and  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  being  a  Democrat,  concurring 
with  his  own  party,  left  the  matter  in  the 
condition  where  no  joint  Assembly  could 
be  had,  as  at  that  time  there  was  no  Act 
of  Congress,  as  there  is  now,  providing  for 
such  a  state  of  things. 

The  one  Whig  who,  we  must  presume, 
thought  himself  unable  to  vote  for  Mr.  Fish 
was  concerned  as  to  what  the  attitude  of 
Mr.  Fish  would  be  in  respect  of  standing 
by  these  compromise  measures  as  a  final 
settlement  of  the  controversy ;  and,  of  course, 
that  attitude  would  be  largely  important  to 
the  Democratic  members  of  the  Legislature, 

O  ' 

some  of  whom  were  what  was  called  Free- 
Soilers,  and  others  of  whom  were  in  strong 
sympathy  with  the  views  and  wishes  of  the 
slave-holding  States.  Mr.  Fish  had  been 
a  great  admirer  of  Mr.  Clay,  whose  course 
had  been  so  largely  instrumental  in  the  pas- 
sage of  the  so-called  compromise  measures; 


29 


and  the  Whig  Senator  who  had  declined  to 
vote  for  Mr.  Fish  was  understood  to  be 
largely  under  the  influence  of  Mr.  Clay's 
wishes  and  opinions.  Mr.  Clay  went  so 
far  as  to  write  a  private  letter  to  the  Col- 
lector of  the  Port  of  New  York,  certainly 
strongly  encouraging,  if  not  advising,  that 
this  Senator  should  require  as  the  sole  con- 
dition on  which  he  would  vote  for  Mr.  Fish 
that  Mr.  Fish's  views  and  intentions  should 
be  publicly  stated.  This  letter  was  used 
adversely  to  Mr.  Fish,  and  came  to  his 
knowledge.  Mr.  Fish  then  wrote  a  calm 
and  vigorous  letter  to  Mr.  Clay  in  respect 
of  that  kind  of  interference,  and  said  "  I 
have  desired  no  concealment  of  my  opinions 
upon  the  various  important  measures  of 
the  last  session  of  Congress,  nor  (although 
Mr.  *  *,  his  employes,  and  certain  other 

disappointed  aspirants  for  the  Senatorship 
may  affect  ignorance,  or  may  assert  that 
my  views  have  been  withheld)  has  there 
been  any  concealment.  It  is  true  that 
since  the  adoption  of  those  measures  1  have 
had  no  occasion  for  a  public  or  official 


30 


.  |tamiltmi  ffish. 


expression  of  opinion.  It  is  neither  in 
accordance  with  my  habits  nor  my  taste 
to  protrude  myself  or  my  opinions  upon 
the  public,  but  I  have  both  in  conversation 
and  in  correspondence  expressed  my  opinions 
very  freely  both  upon  the  propriety,  policy 
and  details  of  several  measures  of  the  last 
Congress,  and  upon  the  imperative  and 
absolute  importance  of  the  enforcement  of 
all  laws,  however  distasteful  they  may  be 
to  sectional  feelings,  and  of  the  strictest 
regard  for  the  supremacy  of  the  law. 
While  the  election  was  immediately  pending 
[  certainly  did  decline  to  be  interrogated. 
*  *  *  While  a  candidate  I  declined  answer- 
ing any.  I  had  not  offered  or  been  instru- 
mental in  making  myself  a  candidate  for 
the  United  States  Senate.  I  had  asked  no 
gentleman  to  vote  for  me.  I  held  a  posi- 
tion entirely  too  elevated  and  dignified  to 
be  the  object  of  even  securing  personal 
interference  or  solicitation  on  the  part  of 
the  candidate.  Because  I  had  no  public 
opportunity  of  expressing  any  opinions  on 
those  questions,  I  would  not  do  so  en  the 


31 


eve  of  the  election,  lest  the  expression 
might  be  supposed  to  be  directed  so  as  to 
influence  those  who  were  to  vote  upon  the 
question.  I  therefore  prefer  to  refer  all 
inquirers  to  what  I  had  previously  said 
and  written,  and  to  let  them  judge  me  by 
my  past  action  in  life  and  by  the  opinions 
I  had  officially  expressed  upon  all  questions 
upon  which  it  had  become  necessary  to 
express  opinions  while  I  have  been  in  any 
public  position.  *  *  *  *  The  State  may 
be  left  with  but  one  Senator,  or,  possibly,  a 
Free-Soil  Democratic  Legislature  mav  next 

tt 

year  send  one  of  their  faith ;  but  high  as 
I  esteem  a  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate, 
I  hold  my  own  honor  and  character  too 
high  to  attain  that  seat  by  what  I  should 
deem  a  sacrifice  of  consistency  or  of  self- 
respect/' 

This  brave  and  independent  attitude  of 
Mr.  Fish  continued  without  variation  or 
shadow  of  turning  until  after  the  middle  of 
March,  1851,  when  he  was  elected. 

During  his  six  years  in  the  Senate  Mr.  Fish 
labored  quietly  and  faithfully  in  the  service 


32 


of  his  country,  and  did  it  in  many  ways 
which  time  does  not  permit  ine  to  enlarge 
upon.  More  service,  perhaps,  than  many 
others  who  spoke  more  and  labored  less. 

Prince  Bismarck  is  reported  to  have 
said  at  Versailles,  in  1871,  that  "the 
gift  of  eloquence  has  done  a  great  deal 
of  mischief  in  parliamentary  life.  Every- 
thing that  is  really  to  be  done  is  settled 
beforehand  in  the  committees,  and  the 
speeches  in  the  House  are  delivered  for 
the  public  in  order  to  show  what  the 
speaker  is  capable  of,  and  still  more  for 
the  newspapers  in  the  hope  that  they  may 
praise.  Is  the  poet  or  improvisatore  exactly 
the  sort  of  person  to  whom  the  helm  of 
State,  which  requires  cool,  considerate 
manipulation,  should  be  confided?" 

It  was  during  this  period  that  the  Whig 
party,  as  a  distinct  organization,  ceased  to 
exist.  The  unavoidable  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  the  great  conflicts  of  moral  and 
political  affairs  that  the  institution  of 
slavery  necessarily  created  had  reached  a 
magnitude  that  entirely  overshadowed  all 


33 


Ju 


those  questions  that  in  earlier  and  quieter 
times  had  divided  opinions,  although  in 
respect  of  such  questions  the  principles  and 
declarations  of  the  old  Whig  party  had  all 
the  time  continued  to  be  the  same.  Hold- 
ing to  those  principles  and  declarations, 
Mr.  Fish  was  reluctant  to  give  up  that 
organization,  and  believed  that  in  time, 
and  with  it,  upon  the  principles  stated  in 
his  messages  as  Governor  to  which  I  have 
adverted,  the  peace  and  unity  of  the  nation 
could  be  preserved  and  its  material  interests 
advanced;  but  as  the  ultimate  designs  of 
the  slave-holding  propagandists  grew  more 
and  more  manifest,  he  cheerfully  came  into 
the  Republican  organization  in  1855-56, 
and  gave  all  the  strength  of  his  great 
influence  in  aid  of  the  effort  to  elect  the 
Republican  candidate  for  president,  General 
Fremont. 

His  change,  or  rather  transfer,  of  position 
had  not  been  rapid,  but  it  was  in  keeping 
with  and  illustrative  of  what  has  been  shown 
in  his  whole  career, —  that  he  rarely,  if 
ever,  had  occasion  to  retrace  his  steps. 


gem. 


At  the  expiration  of  his  term  as  Senator, 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1857,  he  with  his 
family  visited  Europe,  and  increased  his 
already  large  knowledge  of  foreign  countries 
and  foreign  affairs  by  personal  observation 
and  intercourse.  He  returned  in  time  to 
give  his  earnest  and  effective  aid  to  the 
election  of  President  Lincoln. 

When  the  Rebellion  broke  out  in  the 
spring  of  1861,  desiring  no  office,  and  ambi- 
tious of  no  perferment,  he  united  in  the 
formation  in  the  city  of  New  York  of  the 
Union  Defense  Committee,  and  soon  after 
wards,  when  General  Dix,  its  first  chairman, 
went  into  the  military  service,  he  became 
the  chairman  of  the  committee.  This  com- 
mittee in  its  influence  and  labors  was  of 
immense  value  to  the  Union  cause,  for  it, 
in  a  large  degree,  filled  the  interval  between 
the  sudden  commencement  of  war,  when 
the  national  authorities  were  unprovided 
with  means  and  appliances  for  its  vigorous 
prosecution,  until  systematic  government 
arrangements  and  operations  could  be 
undertaken  and  carried  on.  It  might 


almost  be  said  that  it  was  of  more  value 
than  any  one  army  in  the  field,  for  it 
arranged  and  provided  for  the  raising  and 
forwarding  of  troops,  and  attended  to  the 
thousand  indispensable  incidents  and  neces- 
sities attendant  thereon.  In  this  work 
Mr.  Fish  was  constant  and  devoted. 

Later  in  the  war  of  the  Rebellion, 
Mr.  Fish  was  the  leading  member  of  the 
commission  appointed  by  President  Lincoln 
to  arrange  with  the  Rebel  authorities  for 
the  exchange  of  prisoners.  There  had  been 
great  difficulty  in  respect  of  this  matter 
on  account  of  the  circumstance  that  at 
least  some  of  the  heads  of  the  executive 
departments  of  our  government  were  under 
the  impression  that  an  arrangement  for  the 
exchange  of  prisoners  would  be  a  measure 
which  of  itself  would  amount  to  an  acknowl- 
edgment of  a  state  of  public  war,  and 
would,  therefore,  embarrass  the  United 
States  in  the  attitude  that  they  occupied 
in  respect  of  the  action  of  foreign  powers. 
But  as  we  can  now  see  it,  it  is  plain  to 
everybody  that  after  the  first  few  months 


of  hostilities  there  WAS  a  state  of  war  which, 
by  whatever  name  it  might  be  called,  and 
however  it  might  affect  the  relations  and 
duties  of  foreign  powers,  every  sentiment 
of  humanity  must  consider  not  only  to 
warrant  but  to  demand  an  arrangement 
between  the  conflicting  powers  for  the 
exchange  of  their  respective  prisoners.  It 
was  to  endeavor  to  effectuate  such  ends 
that  Mr.  Fish  and  his  associate  commis- 
sioners were  sent  to  confer  with  the  Con- 
federate authorities.  Through  his  efforts 
and  those  of  his  associates  an  arrangement 
for  the  exchange  of  prisoners  was  agreed 
upon,  which  continued  from  that  time  to 
the  close  of  the  war. 

We  now  come  in  historical  order  to  the 
career  of  Mr.  Fish  as  Secretary  of  State, 
covering,  except  six  days,  the  whole  of 
General  Grant's  terms  as  President  from 
the  4th  of  March,  1869,  to  the  4th  of 
March,  1877. 

When  Mr.  Fish  was  asked  to  take  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State,  he  had  not 
had  the  slightest  wish  or  expectation  of 


37 


Ju 


being  called  upon  for  that  service,  and  his 
correspondence  with  the  President  on  the 
subject  shows  with  how  great  reluctance 
he  accepted  the  office,  as  well  as  for  what 
a  short  period  of  time  he  expected  to  per- 
form its  duties.  At  first  he  declined  it,  but 
General  Grant  immediately  and  urgently 
repeated  his  invitation,  and  before  Mr.  Fish 
had  had  an  opportunity  to  again  decline, 
sent  his  name  to  the  Senate  for  confirma- 
tion, which  immediately  took  place.  In 
view  of  the  embarrassments  wrhich  had 
already  occurred  in  respect  of  the  place 
and  of  that  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
Mr.  Fish  consented  to  undertake,  for  a  short 
time,  the  duties  of  the  most  important  of 
the  departments  of  the  government,  reserv- 
ing the  permission  held  out  by  the  letter 
of  the  President  that  he  could  "withdraw 
after  the  adjournment  of  Congress."  He 
continued,  however,  to  serve  his  country 
through  the  Avhole  period  I  have  named, 
and,  with  one  exception,  was  the  only  head 
of  a  department  who  continued  to  do  so. 
This  continued  service  did  not  arise  from 


38 


gou. 


any  wish  of  his,  or  through  any  change  in 
his  desire  to  return  to  private  life.  The 
correspondence  and  papers  upon  the  subject, 
which  I  have  had  the  opportunity  to  peruse, 
as  well  as  my  own  personal  knowledge, 
enable  me  to  say  that  repeatedly,  from  time 
to  time,  and  from  year  to  year,  Mr.  Fish 
asked  the  President  to  consent  to  his  with- 
drawing from  the  heavy  cares,  responsibili- 
ties and  embarrassments  of  the  station  ; 
and  once  or  twice  it  went  so  far  that  the 
President  had  consented  to  his  withdrawal, 
and  had  looked  for  a  successor;  but  find- 
ing that  no  safe  and  satisfactory  arrange- 
ment could,  as  the  President  thought,  be 
made  for  a  new  incumbent,  he  appealed  to 
Mr.  Fish  to  withdraw  his  resignation  and 
continue  to  give  him  the  benefit  of  his 
service  ;  and  once,  even  this  appeal  it  was 
thought  wise  to  reinforce  by  the  urgent 
and  concerted  entreaties  of  many  of  the 
friends  of  the  President  and  of  Mr.  Fish  in 
the  Senate 

When    President    Grant    came   into    office 
there   were   pending,    aside   from   the   great 

99 


and  difficult  questions  of  reconstruction,  two 
questions  of  foreign  relations  of  very  large 
moment.  One  was  the  matter  with  Great 
Britain  in  respect  of  the  conduct  of  that 
government  during  the  war  of  the  Rebellion, 
by  its  having,  after  a  hasty  acknowledgment 
of  a  state  of  belligerency,  permitted  the 
fitting  out  of  rebel  cruisers  in  its  ports, 
which  cruisers  had  made  indiscriminate 
havoc  among  the  unarmed  merchant  vessels 
of  the  United  States.  President  Johnson 
had  negotiated  a  convention  with  Great 
Britain  (known  as  the  Johnson-Clarendon 
Convention)  providing  in  a  certain  way  for 
the  settlement  of  all  claims  between  the 
two  countries,  including  those  I  have 
referred  to.  This  convention  was  pending 
in  the  Senate  unacted  upon  at  the  accession 
of  General  Grant.  It  was  rejected  by  the 
Senate  on  the  13th  of  April,  18G9,  by  (with 
the  exception  of  one  vote)  the  unanimous 
action  of  the  Senate.  Both  political  parties 
concurred  in  the  opinion  that  it  was 
entirely  inadequate  to  the  occasion,  both 
in  respect  of  the  principles,  or  perhaps 


40 


Hamilton  Jfisfc. 


rather  the  want  of  principle,  upon  which 
it  proceeded,  as  well  as  in  respect  of  the 
confusion  and  inefficacy  of  the  methods 
provided  for  the  settlement  of  the  matters 
involved.  The  rejection  of  the  treaty  led, 
naturally,  to  a  state  of  strain  and  irritability 
between  the  two  countries  that  did  not 
augur  well  for  that  cordiality  and  freedom 
of  intercourse  that  would  best  promote 
the  welfare  of  both.  It  had  been  contended 
by  some  very  eminent  and  influential 
persons  in  this  country  that  Great  Britain 
was  pecuniarily  responsible,  beyond  her 
liability  for  the  action  of  the  rebel  cruisers, 
for  national  losses  arising,  as  it  was  main- 
tained, from  the  mere  act  of  her  recogniz- 
ing the  Confederacy  as  belligerents.  This 
was  a  proposition  to  which  Her  Majesty's 
government  would  in  no  manner  assent;  and 
now,  at  this  period  of  time,  when  the  heats 
of  that  occasion  are  subsided,  it  is  obvious 
that  such  a  doctrine  is  not  one  which  the 
United  States  would  find  to  comport  with 
either  their  dignity  or  their  interest  to 
adopt.  Mr,  Fish,  while  he  felt,  and  stated 


strongly  in  his  correspondence  of  the  time, 
the  grievous  moral  wrong  of  Great  Britain 
in  the  premature  and  hasty  recognition 
of  belligerency  and  the  consequent  enormous 
injury  to  the  United  States  occasioned 
thereby,  nevertheless  stated  privately  to 
his  friends  the  true  doctrine  upon  the 
subject  as  follows : 

"  Public  law  recognizes  the  right  of  a 
sovereign  power,  when  a  civil  conflict  has 
broken  out  in  another  country,  to  deter- 
mine when  that  conflict  has  attained  suf- 
ficient complexity,  magnitude  and  complete- 
ness to  require  (not  merely  excuse),  for  the 
protection  of  its  own  interests  and  peace, 
and  all  the  interests,  relations  and  duties 
of  its  own  citizens  or  subjects,  a  definition 
of  its  relations  and  of  the  relations  of  its 
citizens  or  subjects  to  those  of  the  parties 
to  the  conflict.  In  the  exercise  of  this  right 
the  foreign  power  is  responsible  to  the  gen- 
eral obligations  of  right,  and  must  be  guided 
by  facts  and  not  by  prejudices,"  etc. 

In  this  state  of  unpleasant  feeling  it 
required  the  utmost  delicacy  and  skill  of 

42 
1 


.  Hamilton 


diplomatic  treatment  to  reopen  the  ques- 
tions and  bring  the  matter  to  such  a 
settlement  between  the  two  nations  as 
should,  upon  the  principles  of  public  law, 
be  just  to  the  United  States. 

In  May,  1869,  Mr.  Fish  informed  Mr. 
Motley,  who  had  succeeded  Mr.  Reverdy 
Johnson  as  Minister  to  England,  that  he 
thought  the  question  had  "reached  a  point 
where  the  important  interests  of  the  two 
countries  required  some  intermission  of 
discussion  to  allow  the  excitement  and 
irritation  between  them  to  subside." 

The  situation  in  this  country  was  ren- 
dered specially  unpleasant  and  embarrass- 
ing by  reason  of  unfortunate  differences 
and  misunderstandings  that  arose  between 
the  President  and  Senator  Sumner,  and 
into  which  Mr.  Fish  was  unavoidably  more 
or  less  drawn.  This  is  not  the  proper 
occasion  for  discussing  that  controversy, 
even  if  at  any  time  its  discussion  would 
now  be  useful,  but  I  can  say,  both  from 
considerable  personal  knowledge  at  the 
time  and  from  a  recent  perusal  of  the 


43 


n 


private  diaries  of  Mr.  Fish,  that  throughout 
it  all  he  endeavored  to  the  utmost  of  his 
power  to  keep  the  relations  between  these 
great  men  pleasant,  and  to  restore  them 
when  they  had  become  strained,  and  that  it 
gave  him  great  pain  that  he  was  unable  to 
accomplish  his  friendly  and  patriotic  purpose. 
The  interval  of  repose,  as  it  publicly 
appeared,  which  Mr.  Fish  thought  so  desir- 
able after  the  rejection  of  the  Johnson- 
Clarendon  treaty,  continued  until  late  in 
1870,  though  in  the  meantime  occasional 
private  correspondence  and  diplomatic  hints 
and  references  to  the  subject  had  occurred, 
Mr.  Motley  had  been  informed  that  it  was 
desirable  that  any  further  negotiations 
upon  the  subject  should  be  held  in  Wash- 
ington rather  than  in  London,  and  there 
had  been  considerable  confidential  commu- 
nication of  an  entirely  unofficial  character 
upon  the  subject  between  Mr.  Fish  and  a 
very  eminent  subject  of  Her  Majesty, 
Sir  John  Rose,  and  who,  doubtless,  was 
really  acting  under  the  authority  of  the 
British  foreign  office. 


44 


gon.  Hamilton 


About  the  1st  of  July,  1870,  Mr.  Motley 
was  recalled  by  direction  of  the  President, 
and  General  Schenck  was  appointed  to 
succeed  him.  The  course  of  affairs  during 
the  long  interval  between  the  rejection  of 
the  Johnson-Clarendon  treaty  down  to  the 
public  reopening  of  negotiations  is  clearly 
and  concisely  stated  by  Mr.  Fish  himself  in 
a  private  letter  of  the  30th  of  May,  1871, 
to  Dr.  Lieber,  as  follows:  "You  have  asked 
me  whether  the  transfer  of  the  negotiations 
in  the  Alabama  question  from  London  to 
Washington  originated  with  me.  The  idea 
and  determination  were  mine  even  before 
the  rejection  of  the  Johnson-Clarendon 
treaty.  Soon  after  I  entered  upon  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State  I  saw  that  that 
treaty  was  foredoomed  to  be  rejected.  I 
then  decided,  and  expressed  to  the  President 
the  opinion,  that  we  must  take  pause  in 
the  discussion  with  Great  Britain,  and  when 
the  excitement  and  agitation  had  subsided 
(which  would  ensue  on  the  rejection  of  the 
treaty),  we  should  insist  that  any  negotia- 
tions be  held  here.  In  my  instructions  to 


Mr.  Motley  of  the  15th  of  May,  1869,  I 
instructed  him  to  suggest  a  suspense  of  the 
question.  On  the  28th  of  June,  1869,  I 
instructed  him  that  when  the  negotiations 
should  be  renewed  we  desired  them  to  be 
conducted  in  this  country.  *  *  *  *  The 
sending  a  special  mission  —  some  person 
of  high  official  rank — was  suggested  by  me 
in  May,  1869,  and  was  the  subject  of  close 
confidential  conversation  and  correspondence 
with  influential  persons  in  England  as  early 
as  the  1st  of  June,  1869.  The  corres- 
pondence was  continued  in  this  mode 
until  the  fruit  ripened.  The  official  letters 
between  Sir  Edward  Thornton  and  me 
(which  of  course  were  written,  received, 
exchanged,  and  had  passed  through  the 
cable  word  for  word  before  they  were  sent) 
finally  took  date  and  signature  in  the  latter 
part  of  January  last.  These  four  letters 
were  the  official  particulars  of  twenty 
months'  secret  diplomacy." 

The  correspondence  and  memoranda  cover- 
ing this  period  of  time,  and  including  the 
final  negotiation  of  the  treaty  providing 


Bon.  Hamilton  ffistx. 


for  the  settlement  of  the  questions,  show 
that  the  scheme  and  form  of  the  treaty 
were  the  idea  and  the  work  of  Mr.  Fish, 
aided,  of  course,  from  time  to  time,  by 
the  advice  of  such  gentlemen  in  public 
and  private  life  as  he  thought  it  fit  to 
consult,  and  by  the  very  valuable  assist- 
ance of  Mr.  J.  C.  Bancroft  Davis,  his 
assistant  secretary.  In  doing  this  work 
Mr.  Fish  had  to  contend  with  some  most 
astonishing  and  extravagant  propositions, 
insisted  upon  by  some  gentlemen  high  in 
public  life  as  a  sine  qua  non  of  entering 
into  any  negotiations  at  all.  Some  of 
them  were  such  that  there  is  good  reason 
to  believe  that  the  mere  statement  of  them 
to  the  British  government  would  have  put 
an  end  to  all  negotiations  at  once.  And, 
on  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Fish  had  to  con- 
tend with  the  astute  and  earnest  efforts 
of  the  British  government  to  so  frame  the 
treaty  as  to  reduce  our  chances  of  success 
to  a  minimum.  At  last,  after  many  con- 
sultations and  the  overcoming  of  many  diffi- 
culties, the  basis  for  the  appointment  of 


the  Joint  High  Commission  for  the  purpose 
of  discussing  the  mode  of  settlement  and 
the  adjustment  of  the  differences  between 
the  two  countries  was  completed;  and  on 
the  9th  of  February,  1871,  President  Grant 
sent  to  the  Senate  a  statement  of  the  fact, 
and  his  nomination  of  commissioners  on 
the  part  of  the  United  States,  of  which 
commission  Mr.  Fish  was  chairman.  As 
is  known,  the  commission  met,  and  its 
efforts  in  inducing  Great  Britain  to  express 
its  regret  for  what  happened,  and  in 
framing  a  treaty  for  the  submission  of 
these  subjects  of  dispute  to  an  international 
tribunal  were  successful.  The  treaty  having 
been  made,  the  next  step  was  the  fram- 
ing of  the  American  case.  This  very 
important  work  Mr.  Fish  intrusted  to  his 
assistant,  Mr.  Davis,  who  performed  it, 
under  the  general  direction  of  Mr.  Fish, 
in  the  best  possible  manner.  No  stronger 
statement  of  the  position  and  rights  of 
the  United  States  could,  I  think,  have 
been  set  forth  by  any  one.  The  great 
tribunal  met  at  Geneva,  and  proceeded 


48 


.  gamUtou  Jfisfe. 


with  its  business.  The  settlement  was  at 
one  time  very  nearly  wrecked  by  the 
refusal  of  the  British  government  to  pro- 
ceed unless  the  United  States  would  agree 
to  withdraw  from  the  consideration  of  the 
tribunal  everything  connected  with  indirect 
losses,  but  through  the  wise  and  delicate 
management  of  Mr.  Fish  here,  and  Mr. 
Davis  and  the  American  counsel  at  Geneva 
(chief  among  whom  was  an  eminent  New 
Yorker,  still  living,  Mr.  Evarts),  the  diffi- 
culty was  overcome,  and  a  final  result 
readied  by  the  tribunal  honorable  to  both 
countries,  and  having  strong  guarantees  of 
peace  among  nations  by  the  declaration 
of  some  important  principles  of  public  law. 
In  all  this  long  period  of  difficulty  and 
struggle,  both  within  and  without  the 
country,  the  patience  and  skill,  the  fertility 
of  resource,  and  the  persistent  energy  of 
Mr.  Fish  W7ere  almost  marvelous. 

During  the  same  time  another  most 
important  and  embarrassing  question  — 
namely,  that  of  our  relations  with  Spain 
ill  respect  of  the  so-called  Cuban  revolu- 

49 


tion--was  pressing  upon  the  administra- 
tion of  General  Grant  and  exciting  both 
Houses  of  Congress.  Time  does  not  permit 
me  to  go  into  the  subject  in  any  detail. 
It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  the  continuance 
of  peace  between  the  two  countries  was 
most  seriously  menaced.  Speeches  were 
made  in  Congress  advocating  acknowledg- 
ing a  state  of  belligerency,  and,  I  believe, 
advocating  the  recognition  of  the  indepen- 
dence of  Cuba.  The  Cabinet  was  divided 
in  respect  of  the  course  that  should  be 
pursued,  and  at  one  time  matters  had 
gone  so  far  that  a  Presidential  proclama- 
tion was  prepared  and  signed  acknowledg- 
ing a  state  of  belligerency  between  Spain 
and  Cuba,  although  at  that  time  the  Cuban 
insurrectionists  had  neither  port,  seat  of 
government,  nor  civil  courts,  and  although 
belligerency  would  have  given  Spain,  under 
the  treaty  of  1795,  rights  of  search,  etc., 
most  injuiious  to  our  commerce.  Great 
pressure  was  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
President  to  issue  such  proclamation,  and 
it  was  current  knowledge  of  the  time  that 


gamitt0n 


Cuban  bonds  payable  when  Cuba  should 
have  achieved  its  independence  were  find- 
ing some  kind  of  a  market  in  the  United 
States  with  a  view  of  creating  interest 
and  influence  in  support  of  the  scheme. 
Fortunately  President  Grant  had  time  for 
reflection,  and  upon  the  earnest  and  urgent 
advice  of  Mr.  Fish,  instead  of  issuing  the 
proclamation  recognizing  the  belligerency, 
he  sent  a  message  to  Congress  stating  the 
real  situation,  with  his  views  thereon,  and 
then  the  bubble  burst. 

Another  very  important  matter  of  foreign 
affairs  was  also  engaging  the  attention  of 
the  Administration  and  of  Congress  relating 
to  San  Domingo.  In  November,  1869,  a 
treaty  was  negotiated  with  that  Republic 
by  Mr.  Perry,  the  United  States  Minister, 
for  its  annexation  to  the  United  States.  In 
the  negotiation  of  this  treaty,  General 
Babcock,  the  private  secretary  (military,  I 
think)  of  the  President,  was  chiefly  employed, 
and  Mr.  Fish  does  not  appear  to  have 
taken  any  special  part  further  than  to 
cause  to  be  kept  out  of  it  a  contemplated 


51 


11  jftcmovlam. 


provision  for  the  annexation  of  San  Domingo 
as  a  State  of  the  Union ;  and  sundry  other 
requirements  were  suggested  by  him  in 
regard  to  getting  rid  of  or  keeping  free 
from  various  grants  and  suspected  jobs  then 
thought  to  exist  in  and  concerning  the 
island.  But  I  think  Mr.  Fish  was  in  favor 
of  the  acquisition  of  the  island  as  a  terri- 
tory under  the  dominion  of  the  United 
States,  with  a  view  to  our  naval  and 
commercial  advantage  in  that  quarter  of 
the  globe.  The  treaty  was  rejected  by 
the  Senate  chiefly  on  the  ground,  as 
I  believe,  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
island  were  almost  wholly  incapable  of 
self-government,  and  still  more  incapable 
of  taking  part  in  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  that  their  language,  habits 
and  customs  were  entirely  different  from 
those  of  the  people  of  this  country,  and 
that  the  probable  result  of  annexation 
would  be  in  the  not  far  future  the 
admission  of  the  island  as  a  State,  having 
an  equal  voice  in  the  Senate  with  every 
other  State.  Whether  in  view  of  our 

52 


.  gamilton 


increasing  interests  in  the  means  of  inter- 
oceanic  communication  it  would  not  have 
been  wise  to  run  the  risk  of  possible  State- 
hood is  a  question  which  now  very  likely 
would  be  decided  in  favor  of  taking  the  risk. 
It  is  true  in  fact  as  well  as  in  philosophy 
that  "  alterations  in  the  sentiments  of  a 
people  are  not  effected  in  a  minute  or  a 
year.  Even  the  recognition  of  the  changed 
point  of  view  does  not  involve  an  imme- 
diate or  uniformly  timed  perception  of 
wherein  the  new  differs  from  the  old. 
Nations  no  more  than  individuals  have  the 
power  nor  are  they  in  the  habit  of  study- 
ing their  shifting  moods  and  tracing  the 
logical  sequence  between  the  aversions  of 
yesterday,  the  polite  amenities  of  to-day 
and  the  foreshadowed  alliances  of  to- 


morrow/' 


In  1873-74  the  questions  concerning  the 
currency  of  the  United  States  became 
urgent.  A  panic  had  occurred  in  1873 
which  had  operated  disastrously  upon  the 
industry  and  business  of  the  country,  and 
the  panacea  for  it  was  thought  by  many 


63 


Ju 


of  the  most  eminent  personal  and  political 
friends  of  President  Grant  to  be  a  still 
further  issue  of  paper  money;  and  a  very 
large  body  of  the  people  were  of  the  same 
mistaken  opinion.  Accordingly,  early  in 
1874,  Congress  passed  a  bill  commonly 
known  as  the  Inflation  Bill  Very  great 
pressure  was  brought  upon  the  President 
to  sign  it,  and  equally  vigorous  were  the 
efforts  and  protests  of  those  who  thought 
it  ought  to  be  vetoed.  The  President  was 
in  great  doubt  as  to  what  his  duty  was. 
He  had  frequent  interviews  with  Mr  Fish 
upon  the  subject,  and  Mr.  Fish  gave  to 
him  fully  and  cogently  the  reasons  that  it 
appeared  to  him  should  compel  the  Presi- 
dent to  withhold  his  approval  of  it.  There 
is  good  reason  to  believe  that  all  the 
members  of  the  Cabinet,  except  Mr.  Fish 
and  Mr.  Creswell,  the  Postmaster-General, 
were  in  favor  of  the  bill  being  approved. 
The  urgency  of  the  friends  of  the  bill 
appeared  to  have  prevailed,  and  the  Presi- 
dent set  about  drawing  up  a  message  to 
accompany  his  approval  of  the  bill,  stating 


his  objections  to  some  of  its  features  and 
finally  his  reasons  for  approving  it;  but 
after  a  clay  or  two  Mr.  Fish  was  again 
sent  for,  and  was  told  by  the  President 
that  he  had  been  engaged  in  writing  a 
message  giving  the  best  reasons  he  could 
find  for  approving  the  bill,  but  that  the 
more  he  wrote  and  the  more  he  thought, 
he  was  the  more  convinced  that  the  bill 
should  not  become  a  law ;  and  he  was  then 
writing  another  message  refusing  his  assent 
to  the  bill.  On  the  next  day,  April  21,  in 
the  Cabinet  meeting,  the  President  stated 
the  conclusion  which  he  had  reached,  and 
read  the  draft  of  the  veto  message.  A 
member  of  the  cabinet,  who  very  warmly 
wished  to  have  the  bill  approved,  suggested 
that  it  was  always  well  to  lay  important 
papers  aside  till  the  next  day  for  further 
reflection.  The  President  humorously  replied 
that  he  would  do  so,  and  in  the  meantime 
would  have  it  copied  for  signature.  On 
the  next  day  the  veto  message  was  signed 
and  sent  to  Congress.  There  is  no  room 
to  doubt  that  the  position  and  reasons  01 


Ju 


Mr.  Fish  were  more  influential  than  those 
of  any  other  one  man  in  inducing  the 
President  to  take  the  course  he  did  on 
that  occasion.  The  wild  notion  of  having 
a  paper  currency  not  redeemable  in  coin 
was  thus  defeated,  and  the  good  effect  of 
the  veto  was  soon  made  manifest  by  the 
passage  in  the  next  year  of  the  act  provid- 
ing for  a  resumption  of  specie  payments  and 
the  limitation  of  the  amount  of  the  paper 
money  of  the  government  which  should 
thereafter  be  outstanding.  To  this  measure 
Mr.  Fish  gave  his  most  earnest  support. 
The  result  of  that  act  was  that  the  paper 
money  of  the  United  States  soon  came  to 
the  par  of  coin  and  has  so  continued  since. 
In  the  same  year,  1875.  very  serious 
questions  arose  in  connection  with  what 
was  called  reconstruction,  and  especially  in 
respect  of  the  State  of  Louisiana  and  in 
regard  to  the  propriety  of  the  military  of 
the  United  States  being  employed,  even 
on  the  call  of  the  Governor  of  a  State, 
to  in  any  way  interfere  with  the  organiza- 
tion or  proceedings  of  a  Legislature,  or  of 


lion,  gamittmx  ffislx. 


a  body  of  men  claiming  to  be  a  Legislature, 
further  than  to  assist  in  keeping  the  peace. 
On  this  question  Mr.  Fish's  views  were  strong 
and  decided,  and  had  a  great  effect  in  pre- 
venting the  President  from  taking  a  position 
which  might  have  become  a  very  unfortu- 
nate precedent. 

In  1876  the  Presidential  contest  between 
Mr.  Hayes  and  Mr.  Tilden  arose,  and  in 
that  critical  and  dangerous  time  Mr.  Fish 
was  among  the  most  earnest  and  yet  con- 
siderate advocates  of  the  creation  of  the 
Electoral  Commission.  The  result  of  the 
action  of  that  commission  was  the  orderly 
succession  of  President  Hayes  upon  principles 
of  constitutional  law  which,  though  then 
much  disputed,  have  since  been  enacted 
into  permanent  law  by  the  almost  unani- 
mous vote  of  both  Houses  of  Congress. 

I  can  not  allude  to  many  other  interest- 
ing and  more  or  less  important  adminis- 
trative events  occurring  during  the  eight 
years  of  Mr.  Fish's  administration  of  the 
State  Department.  I  may  perhaps,  however, 
have  time  to  mention  one  relating  to  the 

B7 


Ju 


expatriation  of  naturalized  citizens.  This 
question  was  brought  prominently  into  view 
during  the  Franco-German  war,  when 
Mr.  Fish  brought  into  practice  what  is 
now  generally  conceded  to  be  the  true 
principle,  and  which  has  been  followed  by 
many  treaties  upon  the  subject.  He  main- 
tained that  the  naturalized  citizen,  bavins: 

o 

obtained  the  privileges  of  citizenship,  was 
also  as  fully  bound  as  a  native  to  perform 
the  duties  of  citizenship,  and  that,  while 
all  the  powers  of  the  government  should 
be  exerted  in  defense  of  the  rights  of 
naturalized  citizens  as  fully  as  in  the  case 
of  natives,  the  duties  and  obligations  of  the 
naturalized  citizens  were  precisely  as  large 
and  as  binding  as  those  of  natives ;  and 
that  when  naturalization  was  sought  and 
obtained  only  for  the  purpose  of  exchang- 
ing nationality  in  order  that  the  naturalized 
citizen  might  return  to  and  reside  in  the 
land  of  his  nativity  discharged  from  all  the 
obligations  of  his  former  duties  there,  he 
was  not  deserving  of  the  protection  of  the 
government  of  his  adoption. 


38 


item,  Hamilton  Fisli. 


During  the  last  administration  of  Presi- 
dent Grant,  Mr.  Fish  was  engaged  in 
important  correspondence  with  the  British 
government  on  the  subject  of  the  Clayton- 
Bulwer  treaty,  in  which  he  maintained  - 
with  what,  I  thought,  complete  and  just 
reason  —  that  the  United  States  were  no 
longer  bound  by  its  provisions,  and  that 
our  relations  with  the  governments  of 
Central  America  could  be  carried  on  with- 
out any  embarrassments  arising  from  that 
treaty.  A  later  Secretary  (not  your  great 
citizen  who  succeeded  Mr.  Fish  in  office), 
in  his  correspondence  with  the  British  gov- 
ernment, appeared  to  proceed  upon  the 
assumption  that  that  treaty  was  still  bind- 
ing ;  but  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
during  the  administration  of  President 
Arthur,  considered  a  treaty  negotiated  by 
him  with  Nicaragua  for  the  building  of  the 
Nicaragua  canal  under  the  auspices  and 
control  of  the  United  States,  upon  the  con- 
viction that  that  treaty  was  no  longer  in 
force ;  and  the  treaty  received,  if  I  am 
rightly  informed,  the  affirmative  votes  of  a 


39 


great  majority  of  the  Senate,  lacking  only 
three  of  a  two-thirds  majority.  These 
events  are,  I  am  sure,  of  much  consequence 
to  the  United  States,  in  view  of  the  present 
condition  of  affairs  in  that  region. 

o 

In  the  winter  of  1876-77,  Mr.  Fish  was 
earnestly  engaged  in  the  negotiation  of  a 
treaty  with  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua, 
looking  to  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua 
canal,  and  the  matter  went  so  far  that  the 
draft  of  a  convention  for  that  purpose  was 
made  up  and  nearly  perfected,  when  the 
negotiations  were  broken  off  on  account  of 
its  having  been  discovered  that  there  were 
then  outstanding  grants  by  the  Republic  of 
Nicaragua  which  would,  as  Mr.  Fish  thought, 
be  quite  inconsistent  with  the  provisions  of 
the  treaty. 

Mr.  Fish  retired  from  the  State  Depart- 
ment on  the  coming  in  of  President  Hayes, 
he  and  one  other  (Mr.  Robeson)  being  the 
only  members  of  the  Cabinet  of  General 
Grant  who  had  continued  in  office  from  the 
beginning.  This  period  of  his  public  life 
was,  as  you  will  have  seen,  crowded  with 


60 


Hon.  gamiltau  Fish. 


important  events  and  full  of  diversified  diffi^ 
culties  and  struggles  which  often  produced 
strained  relations  between  governments,  and 
excited  animosities  and  discordances  among 
the  public  men  of  the  United  States ;  and 
they  were  sometimes  attended,  I  am  sorry 
to  say,  with  suspicions  and  rumors  of  selfish 
and  corrupt  motives  on  the  part  of  some. 
It  naturally  happened,  as  has,  indeed,  hap 
pened  so  often  in  many  administrations  in 
this  country  and  in  others,  that  Mr.  Fish 
wa*  sometimes  the  object  of  bitter  attack 
and  of  personal  abuse  from  persons  whose 
unworthy  objects  he  had  resolutely  at- 
tempted -  -  and  generally  successfully  —  to 
defeat.  But,  1  believe,  Mr.  Fish  never 
made  any  public  reply  to  such  assaults,  but 
bore  them  with  the  calmness  that  belonged 
to  a  resolute  and  self-possessed  character, 
conscious  of  its  own  rectitude  and  contemp- 
tuous of  the  evil  tongues  of  evil  men. 

In  this  rapid  and  necessarily  brief  review 
of  the  public  life  of  Mr.  Fish  I  have  only 
mentioned  the  public  stations  held  by  him, 
but  this  short  sketch  would  be  incomplete 


61 


did  I  not  say  that  in  the  whole  time  of 
his  manhood  life  he  was  connected  with 
and  active  in  numerous  institutions  of  busi- 
ness, education,  charity,  and  religion. 
Among  them  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
he  was  president  of  the  general  Society 
of  the  Cincinnati  for  nearly  forty  years,  a 
trustee  of  Columbia  College  for  more  than 
fifty  years,  and  chairman  of  its  board  of 
trustees  for  more  than  thirty  years,  a 
trustee  of  the  Astor  Library,  one  of  the 
presidents  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  and  almost  constantly  a  delegate 
to  the  Diocesan  and  General  Conventions 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  and  a 
member  of  the  committee  of  that  church 
on  the  revision  of  the  Praver-Book. 

V 

During  his  residence  in  Washington  his 
house  was  always  the  seat  of  a  most 
generous  and  unostentatious  hospitality. 
It  was  presided  over  by  Mrs.  Fish,  that 
most  accomplished  and  gracious  lady, — 
who  went  to  her  rest  in  1887, —  whose 
memory  will  always  be  dear  not  only  to 
those  who  had  the  honor  of  knowing  her 


62 


gou. 


in  the  ordinary  walks  of  official  and  social 
life,  but  to  the  humble,  the  poor,  and  the 
sorrowful,  to  whom  her  sympathies  and 
assistance  were  always  extended  with  that 
Christian  gentleness  and  cordiality  that 
illuminate  good  deeds  in  a  troubled  world. 
Returning  in  1877  to  his  old  city  home 
in  New  York,  and  to  his  beautiful  country 
place  in  the  highlands  of  the  Hudson  filled 
with  memories  of  the  revolutionary  events 
in  which  his  father  had  part,  he  continued 
to  interest  himself  in  all  that  makes  for 
the  business  and  social  welfare  of  society, 
and  of  the  church  to  which  he  was  so 
much  attached.  He  continued,  also,  to  feel 
interest  in  all  public  and  especially  inter- 
national transactions,  and  in  April,  1882, 
he  had  the  opportunity  to  do  important 
service  to  his  country  in  the  matter  of 
the  arrests  of  naturalized  citizens  of  the 
United  States  in  Ireland.  Notwithstanding 
the  strong  statements  in  the  American 
case  at  Geneva  of  the  adverse  attitude 
of  manv  influential  members  of  the  British 

» 

Cabinet    during    the    Rebellion,    which   had 


63 


Ju  IHcmorium. 


brought  from  one  of  them,  who  has  ever 
since  been,  perhaps,  the  most  powerful  of 
British  Commoners,  an  unofficial  communi- 
cation to  our  Minister  at  London,  endeavor- 
ing to  explain  his  position,  and  with  what 
amounted  to  a  request  that  Secretary 
Fish  should  modifv  the  statements  in  the 

tf 

American  case,  which  had  been  prepared 
by  Mr  Davis  (which  modification  was  not 
made),  Mr.  Fish's  great  and  just  reputa- 
tion in  England  enabled  him,  at  a  crisis 
between  the  two  governments  respecting 
these  arrests,  by  a  simple  private  telegram 
to  Sir  John  Rose,  to  relieve  the  tension 
then  existing  and  to  greatly  expedite,  if  not 
absolutely  to  produce,  the  immediate  release 
of  most  of  the  Irish-American  prisoners. 

As  I  have  now  rapidly  sketched  the 
principal  parts  of  his  public  and  business 
life,  I  turn  with  joy  to  pay  (with,  I  am 
sure,  all  my  brother  churchmen,  and, 
indeed,  with  all  Christian  men)  the  tribute 
that  is  most  justly  due  to  him  for  his 
life-long  and  steadfast  interest  in  and 
labors  for,  the  promotion  and  advancement 


64 


of  church  work  in  the  best  and  most 
comprehensive  sense  of  that  term.  He 
knew  that  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
the  gospel,  and  the  works  that  those 
doctrines  required  of  every  believer, 
demanded  for  their  best  achievements  the 
same  sort  of  organization  and  systematic 
administration  that  are  essential  in  worldly 
affairs.  So  he  was  an  active  member  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  church ;  not  as  a 
bigot  or  controversialist,  but  with  a  large 
and  kindly  sympathy  and  respect  for  all 
other  Christian  churches  that  with  the 
same  true  faith  were,  by  methods  and  in 
forms  different  from  those  of  his  own 
church,  working  in  the  field  of  the  com- 
mon Master.  In  this  life-long  work  the 
trained  powers  of  his  intellect,  his  business 
methods,  and  his  great  activity  came  to 
the  service  of  the  sympathies  and  aspira- 
tions of  his  soul  in  all  the  diverse  aspects 
and  attitudes  of  church  work,  just  as  his 
religious  character  gave,  reciprocally,  to 
his  business  and  public  labors  the  illumina- 
tion of  truth,  justice,  and  honor. 


Ju 


I  have  thus  endeavored  to  recall  to  your 
view  the  chief  events  and  incidents  in  the 
course  of  his  long  and  spotless  life.  The 
details  and  associated  circumstances  of 
them  are  most  interesting  and  valuable. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  due  time  the 
contents  of  his  voluminous  correspondence 
and  his  copious  diaries  may  be  made  public. 

It  is  amazing  that  any  one  man  could 
have  done  so  much  in  almost  every 
variety  of  affairs,  and  always  so  well. 
There  seems  to  have  been  ever  present 
in  his  mind  unlimited  and  well-ordered 
stores  of  historical  and  political  knowledge, 
and  a  complete  and  accurate  knowledge 
of  constitutional  and  public  law  ready  for 
use  on  every  occasion.  He  possessed  the 
rare  faculty  of  quickly  co-ordinating  and 
arranging  in  logical  order  the  circum- 
stances of  fact  with  which  he  had  to 
deal  and  applying  to  them  the  principles 
of  law  and  justice  which  related  to  them; 
and  he  thus  reached  conclusions  that  he 
almost  never  found  cause  to  change.  Surely 
the  intellectual  tree  that  bore  such  fruits — 

66 


gou.  gamiltou 


so  many  and  so  good — must  have  been 
of  the  sturdiest  oak,  with  branches  wide 
and  strong,  and  its  roots  must  have  been 
grounded  in  the  deepest  and  purest  soil 
of  the  moral  and  religious  character  of 
man.  His  courage  was  always  equal  to 
his  convictions.  Neither  menace  nor 
calumny,  nor  flattery,  nor  self-interest 
could  swerve  or  stop  him  from  walking 
in  the  path  on  which  the  truest  light  fell 
for  him.  Thus  the  great  and  varied  work 
he  did  was  easy  for  him  compared  with 
other  men  whose  course  might  be  affected 
by  many  idle  winds  of  doctrine,  or  tempests 
of  passion,  or  the  quicksands  of  self- 
interest.  His  personal  life  and  character 
were  pure  and  self-contained.  His  manners 
were  courteous,  calm,  self-possessed,  and 
pleasant,  and  he  rarely  gave  way  to  the 
sometimes  proper  open  manifestation  of 
feelings  of  righteous  indignation.  Such  was 
the  life  and  character  of  this  citizen  to 
whose  memory  we  do  honor  to-night.  It 
is  true  that  he  had  extraordinary  and 
auspicious  surroundings  at  the  beginning 


67 


of  his  career;  but  it  is  the  aggregate  of 
individual  lives  that  make  a  local  society, 
a  state,  and  a  nation ;  and  it  is  the 
character  of  each  separate  life  that  makes 
up  the  quality  and  tone  of  the  mass. 
The  accidents  of  birth,  or  fortune,  or 
particular  opportunity  are  quite  apart  from 
the  constant  duty  of  every  citizen  to  do 
his  best  for  the  good  of  all.  The  life 
and  conduct  of  the  humblest  as  well  as 
the  highest  is  an  inseparable  and  an  equal 
element  in  the  great  sum  of  human  affairs. 
The  last  few  years  of  his  life  (shadowed 
only  by  his  human  sorrow  in  the  death 
of  Mrs.  Fish,  who  had  been  for  more 
than  fifty  years  the  beloved  sharer  of  all 
his  joys  and  solicitudes)  were  passed  in 
the  serenity  of  contented  old  age,  and  in 
the  society  of  his  devoted  children.  His 
intellect  remained  unclouded,  and  his 
interest  in  all  good  works  both  public 
and  private,  as  well  as  in  the  lives  of 
his  many  personal  friends,  continued  to 
the  end.  His  peaceful  death  occurred  on 
the  7th  day  of  September,  1893,  at  his 


68 


country  home  on  the  shores  of  your 
beautiful  river,  when  for  him  the  future 
opened  her  gateways  of  gold  to  the  larger 
and  happier  life. 

From  a  personal  and  somewhat  intimate 
acquaintance  with  Mr.  Fish,  from  the  spring 
of  1869  to  the  day  of  his  death,  I  can  say, 
without  disparagement  of  others,  that  I  have 
never  known  any  man  who,  all  in  all, —  on 
every  side  of  his  character  and  behavior, — 
came  nearer  to  the  perfect  type  of  the 
American  citizen  and  the  Christian  man. 

Your  Excellency  and  the  Legislature  do 
well  to  give  high  honors  to  his  memory. 
But  what  you  now  do  is  not  a  memorial 
only.  His  career  and  the  grateful  tributes 
you  bestow  in  the  name  of  the  people 
whom  he  served  so  well,  are  continual 
inspirations  to  better  lives,  higher  purposes, 
and  more  earnest  efforts  in  your  noble 
State  and  in  our  great  Republic,  to  the 
end  that  the  common  welfare  and  true 
progress,  private  and  public  justice,  and 
civil  and  political  equality,  may  increase  and 
prevail  more  and  more,  until  in  our  beloved 


w  g&emxrriam. 


land   all    our    ways   shall    become   ways   of 
pleasantness   and   all   our    paths   are   peace. 
The    exercises    were   concluded   by   hymn 
"God  Bless  Our  Native  Land."  (America): 

God  bless  our  native  land  ! 
Firm  may   she   ever  stand, 

Thro'  storm  and  night ; 
When  the  wild  tempests  rave, 
Ruler  of   winds  and   wave, 
Do   thou  our  country   save 

By  thy  great   might. 

For  her  our  prayer   shall  rise 
To   God,  above  the   skies; 

On   Him  we   wait; 
Thou  who   art   ever  nigh, 
Guarding  with   watchful  eye, 
To  thee  aloud  we   cry, 

God   save  the   State.     Amen. 

After  which  the  Rev.  W.  W.  Batter- 
shall,  D.  D.,  pronounced  the  following 
benediction : 

The  God  of  peace,  who  brought  again  from  the 
dead  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  great  Shepherd  of  the 
sheep,  through  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant; 
Make  you  perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do  his  will, 
working  in  you  that  which  is  well  pleasing  in  his 
sight ;  through  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  be  glory  for 
ever  and  ever.  Amen. 

70 


Hamilton  Fish,  Jr. 
For  President 


Extension  of  remarks 

of 

Hon.  Harold  Knutson 

of  Minnesota 
in  the 

House  of  Representatives 

Thursday,  August  8.  1935 

Letter  from 

Hon.  Royal  C.  Johnson 

a  former  Representative  from  South  Dakota 


(Not  printed  at  Government  expense) 


9530—11755 


United  States 

Gorernment  Printing:  Office 
Washington  :  1935 


HAMILTON  FISH,  JR. 
FOR  PRESIDENT 


Mr.  KNUTSON.  Mr.  Speaker,  in  accordance  with  the 
consent  given  me  to  extend  my  remarks,  I  include  a  letter 
from  former  Congressman  Royal  C.  Johnson,  of  South  Da- 
kota. I  was  so  much  impressed  by  the  sincerity,  soundness, 
and  logic  of  the  views  expressed  by  former  Representative 
Royal  C.  Johnson  in  this  letter  written  to  a  friend  of  his  in 
my  State  of  Minnesota  that  I  have  asked  permission  to  print 
it  in  the  RECORD. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  one  of  the  outstanding  Members  of  the 
House  from  1916  to  1933.  He  was  the  Republican  Chairman 
of  the  Veterans'  Relief  Committee  and  a  member  of  the  Rules 
Committee.  He  left  Congress  to  enter  the  World  War  and 
served  with  distinction  as  an  officer  in  the  79th  Division  and 
was  severely  wounded  in  action.  After  the  war  on  his  return 
to  Congress  he  became  the  outstanding  veteran  leader  in  the 
Nation.  He  voluntarily  retired  from  Congress  in  1933  to 
practice  law  in  order  to  support  a  growing  family. 

Royal  Johnson  was  not  only  an  able  Representative,  but 
recognized  on  the  Republican  side  as  one  of  the  best  pol- 
iticians in  recent  years.  The  reasons  advanced  by  him  in 
support  of  HAMILTON  FISH  are  those  of  an  experienced  Re- 
publican leader  from  the  Middle  West  who  served  for  13 
years  with  Representative  FISH  in  Congress  and  knows  his 
qualifications,  fitness,  and  record  and  understands  his  unique 
appeal  to  the  voters. 

The  letter  is  as  follows: 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  April  17,  1935. 

DEAR  PAT:  Your  letter  of  the  13th,  asking  for  a  resume  of  the 
qualifications  of  the  different  individuals  whose  names  have  been 
proposed  for  the  Republican  nomination  for  President,  came  yes- 
terday. Personally,  as  you  know,  I  am  forever  out  of  politics,  but 
I  am  interested  in  seeing  the  Constitution  and  our  form  of 
American  Government  preserved,  and  twelieve  that  must  be  done 
through  the  Republican  Party. 

We  know  we  must  have  a  clean,  outstanding,  comparatively 
young  man,  preferably  a  veteran,  who  has  a  background  of  Amer- 
icanism, understands  government,  could  execute  the  administrative 
duties  of  the  office  of  President,  understands  foreign  affairs  and 
who  can  get  the  votes. 

For  that  reason  I  am  writing  you  frankly  about  the  man  who  I 
think  would  make  a  good  President  and  who,  I  am  firmly  con- 
vinced, can  get  more  votes  in  the  1936  fall  election  than  any  other 
individual.  I  am  sure  that  that  man  is  HAMILTON  PISH,  Jr.,  pres- 
ent Member  of  Congress  from  New  York,  and  I  am  writing  you 
frankly  concerning  him  because  I  think  that  you  ought  to  take  up 
the  battle  for  him  in  your  State,  just  as  one  time,  some  years  ago, 
you  enlisted  in  the  marines.  I  think,  Pat,  it  is  your  duty. 
9530—11755  (U) 


The  following  is  a  statement  of  my  reasons  for  the  suggestion: 

PERSONALITY 

1.  In  my  judgment,  he  possesses  the  qualifications  that  would 
make  him  a  good  and  perhaps  a  great  President. 

2.  He  is  47  years  old,   physically  fit,  has  been  a  great  football 
player  and  a  patriotic  combat  soldier  decorated  by  his  country 
He  is  the  type  that  will  attract  the  younger  element  and  the  liberal 
and  independent  voters. 

3.  lie  is  a  married  man  with  two  young  children,  and  he  has 
lived  the  sort  of  life  that  makes  it  impossible  for  him  to  be  person- 
ally attacked. 

LEGISLATIVE    RECORD    AND    POLITICAL    AVAILABILITY 

1.  He  was  a  liberal  in  Congress  when  the  Republican  Party  was 
headed  for  reactionary  defeat. 

2.  He  is  fundamentally  right  on  the  American  system  of  gov- 
ernment and  the  Constitution. 

3.  He   has  practical   political   experience   of  three  terms  in  the 
New  York  State   Legislature    (1912-15),  as  a  Progressive  follower 
of   Theodore   Roosevelt,   and    16   years   as   a   Republican   Member 
of  Congress  from   that  State. 

4.  He  can  do  more  to  cement  the  service  men  than  any  other 
Individual,  because  he  has  a  fine  combat  record;   was  Chairman 
of  the  Commission  which  gave  veterans  a  reasonable  civil-service 
preference;    was    chairman    of    the    committee    which    wrote    the 
preamble    to    the    constitution    of    the    American    Legion    In    St. 
Louis   in  May    1919;    introduced   and   secured   the   passage   of  the 
resolution    returning    the    body    of    the    unknown    soldier    now 
lying  in  Arlington  Cemetery;    is  now  the  oldest  veteran  in  point 
of  service  in  Congress,  and  has  no  animosities  among  service  men, 
who,  as  you  and  I  know,  are  subject  to  them. 

5.  He  is  the  only  man  in  the  United  States,  in  my  Judgment, 
who  could  bring  back  the  colored  voters  to  the  Republican  Party, 
because  he  served  with  colored  troops  (Three  Hundred  and  Sixty- 
ninth   Infantry) ;    handled   more   compensation   cases   for   colored 
veterans   than   anyone   in   the   United   States;    and   defended   the 
colored  troops  on  the  floor  of  the  House  and  in  public  speeches 
when  attacks  were  made  on  their  military  records. 

He  already  has  the  endorsement  of  the  leading  Republican  col- 
ored leaders  of  the  United  States.  He  introduced  a  bill  in  Congress 
February  23.  1926,  which  passed  the  House  on  April  28,  1926,  pro- 
posing a  monument  to  colored  soldiers. 

6.  He  has  the  support  of  the  leading  German  newspapers  of  the 
United   States,  because  he  came   back   from   Prance  with   charity 
In  his  heart  for  a  defeated  enemy,  and  on  February  8,  1924,  intro- 
duced a  bill  appropriating  $10,000,000  for  relief  of  distressed  and 
starving  women  and  children  of  Germany,  which  passed  the  House 
on  March  24,  1924,  and  was  enacted  into  law. 

7.  Being  one  of  the  men  who  never  had  particular  racial  or  re- 
ligious prejudices,  he  is  friendly  with  many  Jewish  people  because 
on  May  3,  1922,  he  introduced  a  bill  creating  a  national  home  for 
the  Jewish  people  in  Palestine,  which  became  a  law  on  September 
21,  1922. 

8.  He  has  been  a  leader  In  the  fight  on  communism  when  others 
paid  no  attention  to  It,  and  introduced  at  this  session  a  bill  in  the 
House,   which   later  the  Democrats  purloined   from   him,  provid- 
ing for  an  investigation  of  conditions  in  Mexico,  where  commu- 
nism is  attempting  to  eradicate  all  belief  in  religion. 

9.  He  is  immensely  strong  with  labor  and  intimate  with  labor 
leaders.     He  voted  with  them   16  out  of  20  times,  definitely  re- 
fusing to  go  with  them  on  the  occasions  when  small  groups  of 
labor  leaders  attempted  to  assume  the  prerogatives  of  government. 

.  10.  He  supported  social  and  humanitarian  reforms  which  every- 
one now  accepts  should  have  been  secured  by  labor  long  ago. 

11.  He  is  strong  with  the  Polish  people  and  is  the  author  of  the 
iaw  which  passed  Congress  promoting  our  representative  in  Poland 
9530—11755 


from  a  minister  to  an  ambassador,  and  has  recently  Introduced  a 
bill  for  the  erection  of  an  American  Embassy  at  Warsaw. 

12.  He  Introduced  and  passed  through  Congress  a  resolution  ex- 
tending congratulations  en  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  In- 
dependence  of   Greece.     The    official    magazine    of    the    Order    of 
Aheppa  has  publicly  thanked  him,  has  publicly  supported  him,  and 
he  has  been  officially  invited  to  Greece  at  the  expense  of  that  Gov- 
ernment, an  Invitation  which  he  could  not  accept. 

13.  He  has  the  support  of  a  vast  group  of  American  Italians. 
Part  of  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that  many  Italians  who  enlisted  or 
were  drafted  into  the  American  Army  were  discharged  abroad  and 
remained  in  Italy  until  they  could  not  legally  return  to  the  United 
States.     Mr.  FISH  led   the   fight   for  the   passage   of   a  law  which, 
allowed  thousands  of  fathers  and   mothers  of  naturalized  World 
War  veterans  to  be  admitted  to  the  United  States,  regardless  of  the 
quota;  that  is,  the  fathers  and  mothers  of  those  soldiers  who  had 
honorable  discharges. 

14.  He   represents   a   dairy   and    agricultural   district,    and   Is   a 
member  of   the   National   Grange   and   Farm   Bureau   Federation, 
and  has  shown  both  sympathy  and  Interest  in  the  farmers'  prob- 
lems of  the  Middle  West,  and  recently  reintroduced  the  McNary- 
Haugen   export-bounty   bill,    and   has   urged   the    passage    of   the 
Lemke-Frazier  farm-refinancing  bill.    He  insists  that  the  Repub- 
lican  Party  present   a   constructive   substitute   for   the   A.   A.   A. 
before  attempting  to  abolish  it. 

15.  He  is  the  highest  ranking  Republican  on  the  House  Com- 
mittee on  Foreign  Affairs,  has  consistently  fought   American   in- 
tervention  in   European   affairs,   the   League   of   Nations,   and   all 
foreign  entanglements  and  sanctions,  and  is  particularly  qualified 
to  represent  American  thought  in  world  affairs. 

16.  He    has   a   consistent   record   of   sticking   with   his    friends, 
sometimes  even  to  his  own  disadvantage. 

17.  He  is  a  skilled  and  fluent  public  speaker  on  both  platform 
and  radio  and  has  one  of  the  most  pleasing  radio  voices  in  the  United 
States.    In  addition,  he  is  smart  enough  to  write  his  own  speeches. 

18.  He  lives  in  Franklin  Roosevelt's  district,  has  led  his  ticket 
overwhelmingly  every  year  he  has  run,  carried  his  district  in  1932 
by   17,618  votes,  increased  his  majority  2,000   votes  in   1934,   and 
led  the  Republican  candidate  for  Governor  by   16,000  votes.     In 
this   connection,   let   me   call   your  attention   to   what   we   know, 
which  is  that  no  one  can  tell  why  a  man  can  secure  votes.     We 
know  he  either  can  or  he  cannot,  and  it  has  been  demonstrated 
that  people  do  vote  for  FISH.     He  was  one  of  the  few  Congress- 
men to  run  ahead  of  President  Coolidge  in  1924  and  of  President 
Hoover  in  1928. 

19.  More   than   50   Members  and   ex-Members   of   Congress   who 
knew  him  have  already  endorsed  him,  and  a  voluntary  campaign 
committee  has  recently  been  formed. 

20.  I  have  seen  the  voluntary  letters  he  has  received,  and  there 
has  been  no  voluntary  support  such  as  he  is  receiving  since  the 
time  of  Theodore  Roosevelt.     This  is  because  the  Republicans  of 
this  country  have  been  looking  for  a  sound  Individual  of  his  type 
who  has  repeatedly  demonstrated  great  vote  appeal.    I  know  him, 
and  I  know  that  he  is  frank,  sometimes  distressingly  frank,  but 
It  is  a  great  asset   at  the  present   time,   and  he   will   speak  out 
and  put  some  color  and  fire  into  the  campaign. 

21.  He  has  for  more  than  a  year  urged  the  liberalization  of  Re- 
publican policies  within  the  confines  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
necessity  of  making  a  direct  appeal  to  Jeffersonian  Democrats  in 
defense  of  their  own  principles  to  Join  the  Republicans  in  ousting 
the  "  new  dealers  "  and  preserving  American  constitutional  liberty. 

As  busy  as  I  am,  I  intend  to  work  in  this  campaign,  because  it 
appears  to  be  a  duty;  and  I  believe  you  ought  to  take  it  up  with 
your  friends  in  your  State  and  make  one  more  real  American 
fight. 

Sincerely  yours,  (Signed)     ROYAL  C.  JOHNSON. 

9530—11755  s    SOVE,.HEKT    PR,HTiNS   OFF,v«:  ,»» 


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